RPI Game Notes | Mercyhurst Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Audio

LAST WEEKEND: Rensselaer was swept by travel partner Union ... Friday in Schenectady the Engineers fell, 4-3 ... The next night at the Houston Field House, RPI lost a 4-1 contest.

THIS WEEKEND: RPI takes a break from league play, heading to Mercyhusrt for a pair of games ... Both Friday and Saturday have puck drops of 7pm.

BEEN A WHILE: These will be the Engineers' first games in the state of Pennsylvania since playing UPenn on November 28, 1972 ... It has been 14,969 days and RPI has played 1,408 games since that date.

IT'S BEEN EVEN LONGER: The last time RPI won a game in Pennsylvania was December 13, 1966, when Rensselaer beat UPenn, 11-5 ... It has been 17,146 days and RPI has played 1,550 games since that date.

UPCOMING: Rensselaer will have next weekend off, before returning to ECAC Hockey action with home games against Quinnipiac and Princeton ... The Friday game starts at 7pm, while puck drop Saturday is 4pm.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION: All RPI men's hockey games can be heard live on WRPI, 91.5 FM, and on the Internet on www.wrpi.org ... Live statistics are also available as is live video, for most games ... Check www.rpiathletics.com, www.ecachockey.com or the home school's website for additional information and links.

LAST FRIDAY: RPI fell to the Dutchmen, 4-3, at Messa Rink ... The Engineers took the lead on a shorthanded goal from Brock Higgs, who deflected a clearing attempt by Union goalie Colin Stevens into net ... Daniel Ciampini tied the game later in the first with a power play goal ... Union went on to score the next three goals, two from Nick Cruice and one from Eli Lichtenwald ... Rensselaer got two back, both from the stick of junior Matt Neal ... Scott Diebold made 28 saves in the loss.

LAST SATURDAY: Playing at home in front of a crowd of 4,105, Rensselaer fell to Union, 4-1 ... After no scoring in the first, the visitors took the lead with two power play goals, from Eli Lichtenwald and Daniel Carr, respectively ... Brock Higgs scored his ninth goal of the season to make it a one goal game ... Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere then scored two goals within 1:10 late in third to seal the win for the Dutchmen ... There were 153 penalty minutes called between the two teams in the final 3:17 of play.

STREAK BROKEN: By not scoring a short-handed goal in Saturday's game, RPI broke it's streak of three consecutive games with a SHG ... Senior Guy Leboeuf scored one against both Cornell and Colgate and Brock Higgs had one against Union Friday ... RPI is tied for first in the nation with four short-handed goals ... Senior captain Matt Tinordi scored the other, which came in Rensselaer's first game of the season.

IN THE BOX: In Saturday's game against Union, RPI had a total of 94 penalty minutes ... It was the most PIM's this centruy for the Engineers... The second most was 89, which happened November 28, 2008, against this weekend's opponent, Mercyhust.

NATIONAL LEADERS: Ryan Haggerty remains first in the nation in total goals, with 13 ... He is also tied for the lead in power play goals with six ... Senior defenseman Guy Leboeuf is tied for the national lead with two SHG.

ALSO LISTED: Ryan Haggerty is second in the nation with an averge of 1.08 goals per game, behind Cody Wydo of Robert Morris (1.10) ... Brock Higgs is tied for sixth and seventh in total goal and goals per game, respectively ...

NATIONAL RANKINGS: RPI is sixth in Division I in scoring offense (3.75 goals per game), 10th in scoring margin (1.25) and seventh in PIM/G (17.8).

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior Ryan Haggerty, who has 13 goals and 17 points, is first on the team in both categories … He has scored a goal in eight of the 12 games with four multiple-goal efforts ... Senior Brock Higgs has 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) to rank second on the team … Junior forward Matt Neal is third in both goals and points, with five and 13, respectively ... Junior Jacob Laliberte is first on the team with nine assists ... RPI's top goal scorer from the blueline is senior Guy Leboeuf, who has two goals, both shorthanded.

IN GOAL: Junior Scott Diebold, who has started the last 10 games and has appeared in 11 overall, is 5-3-2 with a 2.22 goals against average and a .918 save percentage … Sophomore Jason Kasdorf, who started the first two games, is injured and expected to miss the remainder of the season ... He was is 1-1-0 with a 3.49 goals against average and a .786 save percentage before being sidelined.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers have a 21.6% (11 for 51) power play on the season ... Ryan Haggerty has six extra-man tallies, while Brock Higgs has chipped in three power play goals and Matt Neal and Luke Curadi both have one ... The penaly kill is at 80.8% (42 for 52) on the year.

RPI TO DATE: Rensselaer averages 3.75 goals on 25.2 shots with 17.8 penalty minutes per contest ... Rensselaer allows 2.50 goals and 25.9 shots per game ... The opposition averages 15.8 PIMs.

FAST START: In the first period, RPI has outscored its opponents 18-3, for a +15 goal differential ... When scoring first, the Engineers are 6-1-1 ... With a lead heading into the first intermission, they have a yet to lose, going 6-0-1.

MEET THE LAKERS: Mercyhust is led by 26th year head coach, Rick Gotkin, a former RPI assistant coach ... They have compiled a record of 456-329-66 under Gotkin at three levels of NCAA competition ... The Lakers started the year 0-3, with losses against currently ranked Minnesota, Clarkson and Ferris State  ... They have since gone 4-3-1, including 3-1-0 in Atlantic Hockey ... In their most recent game on Tuesday, they defeated Niagara, 4-2 ... Junior Zac Frischmon scored two goals to lead the Lakers.

LAKERS OFFENSE: Senior Daniel O'Donoghue is first on the team with six goals and tied for first with 11 points ... Junior Matthew Zay also has 11 points, scoring five goals and adding six assists ... Senior defenseman Nick Jones is first on the team with eight assists ... Kyle Dutra leads all freshmen on the team, scoring two goals and adding four assists ... Eight different Lakers are averaging more than 0.50 points per game for the year.

IN THE CREASE: Two goaltenders have seen action so far this season for Mercyhurst ... Junior Jimmy Sarjeant has played eight games, posting a 2.59 GAA, a .924 save percentage and a 4-2-1 record ... Junior Jordan Tibbett has played four games, with an 0-4-0 record ... He has a 5.21 GAA and a .863 save percentage.

TEAM STATISTICS: Mercyhurst averages 3.09 goals per game on 29.1 shots ... Their opponents average 3.55 goals per game on 35.4 shots per game ... The Lakers have a 16.1% (9 for 56) on the power play ... O'Donoghue and Zay lead the team with two goals each on the advantage ... Mercyhurst has an 83.3% (45 for 54) penalty kill, with three goals scored a man down.

RPI AGAINST MERCYHURST: RPI has played Mercyhusrt eight times in it's history, going 6-2-0 ... All eight games have happened in Troy, making this the first time Rensseleaer has played the Lakers on the road.

UNDER APPERT: The Engineers have played Mercyhust three times with Seth Appert as head coach, have a 2-1-0 record ... The aggregate score in those games favors RPI, 9-7, with the winning team scoring four goals in each contest.

SHUTOUTS: The Engineers have shut out the Lakers two times, both coming in 5-0 victories ... Nathan Marsters recorded a shutout on November 25, 2000 ... He stopped 22 shots for his second career shutout ... Andrew Martin stopped all 17 shots he faced in the Engineers' five goal win on October 30, 2004 ... It was his first and only career shutout.

HAT TRICKS: RPI has never scored a hat triack against the Lakers... Three players have scored two goals in a game against Mercyhusrt: Ben Barr in 2002, Nick Economakos in 2003 and Nick Bailen in the first game against them last year.

SHORTHANDED: Rensselaer has scored two shorthanded goals against Mercyhurst in eight games ... The first was by Carson Butterwick in 2000 and the second by Ben Barr in 2002... Both were scored in the second period with RPI holding the lead.

MOSTLY NOVEMBER: Of the eight games played between the two teams, six have occured in November ... RPI has a 5-1 record in those games.

LAST YEAR: The two teams met for a pair of games, the first time they'd ever played more than once in a season ... Rensselaer won both games by scores of 4-2 and 4-1 ... Both wins came at the Houston Field House.

NOVEMBER 16, 2012: The Engineers scored two goals in the first, and went on to defeat the Lakers, 4-2 ... Milos Bubela picked up his second goal of the season, with the assists going to defensemen Craig Bokenfohr and Guy Lebouef ... Nick Bailen and Mark McGowan scored to give RPI a 3-0 lead early in the third ... Mercyhurst got its deficit to one goal after goals from Paul Chiasson and Matthew Zay ... Bailen scored his second of the game with under a minute left to seal the victory ... Bryce Merriam stopped 27 of 29 shots to get the win.

Rensselaer 4, Mercyhurst 2
November 16th in Troy, N.Y.

Mercyhurst 0 0 2 - 2
Rensselaer 2 0 2 - 4

1st – 1, RPI, Bubela/2 (Bokenfohr, Leboeuf) 6:00.  2, RPI, Bailen/3 (Neal, O'Grady) 9:52.
2nd – No Scoring.
3rd – 3, RPI, McGowan/2 (Zalewski, Curadi) 3:03 (gw).  4, MER, Chiasson/2 (Nagtzaam) 6:14 (pp).  5, MER, Zay/2 (Stevens) 10:37 (sh).  6, Bailen/4 (Leonard) 19:16 (pp).
Shots – MER 8-6-15–29; RPI 11-5-7–23.
Power Plays – MER 1/4; RPI 1/5.
Goalies – MER, Strang (60:00/23-19); RPI, Merriam (59:55/29-27).
Referees – Allen & McDonald; T – 2:10; A – 2,397.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012: After no scoring in the first, Mercyhurst took the lead 7:25 into the scond on a power play goal from Chris Bodo ... RPI got the only other goal of the period, coming from Mark Miller with Nick Bailen getting the assist ... Rensselaer then scored three times in the third, with the goals coming from Jacob Laliberte, Greg Burgdoerfer and Marty O'Grady ... Jason Kasdorf stopped 30 of 31 shots.

Rensselaer 4, Mercyhurst 1
November 17th in Troy, N.Y.

Mercyhurst 0 1 0 - 1
Rensselaer 0 1 3 - 4

1st – No Scoring.
2nd – 1, MER, Bodo/1 (Blakely) 7:25 (pp).  2, RPI, Miller/1 (Bailen) 15:13.
3rd – 3, RPI, Laliberte/5 (Bailen, Haggerty) 2:26 (gw).  4, RPI, Burgdoerfer/1 (O'Grady) 7:33.  5, RPI, O'Grady/1 (Miller) 18:50 (en).
Shots – MER 3-15-13–31; RPI 12-8-9–29.
Power Plays – MER 1/5; RPI 0/4.
Goalies – MER, Tibbett (58:24/28-25); RPI, Kasdorf (60:00/31-30).
Referees – Hicks & Roy; T – 1:58; A – 2,631.

CAREER FIRSTS: In the first game against Mercyhust last year, defenseman Craig Bokenfohr picked up his first collegiate assist ... In the second game, forward Mark Miller scored his first collegiate goal ... It was also his first multi-point game, as he added an assist.

MORE CAREER FIRSTS: Goalie Jason Kasdorf started his first collegiate game against the Lakers in the second game last year ... It was only his second career appearence ... He picked up his first collegiate victory by allowing only one goal in the game, which came on the power play.

BE CAREFUL: Between RPI and Mercyhust, the teams have combined for seven shorthanded goals on the year ... That is tied for the most SHG scored between two teams playing this weekend, with BC (4) and Maine (3) also combining for seven.

FIVE IN EIGHT: Junior Matt Neal has the longest current point streak for the Engineers, recording at least one point in each of the last five games ... During the streak, he has a total of eight points, scoring four goals and four assists ... He had three points against Dartmouth (1G, 2A), and had two goals against Union on Friday.

ALREADY NINE: Brock Higgs has nine goals on the season, tying his previous season high from his freshman year ... He had four goals in the previous two seasons, contributing 36 assists during the span ... He had a team-high 20 assists and 23 points during his sophomore season.

BO'S BACK: After missing the previous two games, Bo Dolan returned to the lineup on Saturday, contributing an assist on RPI's lone goal ... He has three assists so far on the year.

SCORING BY CLASS: Rensselaer's seniors have scored 16 goals and added 17 assists for 33 points ... Juniors lead the team with 22 goals and 36 assists for 56 points ... The sophomore class has four goals and 18 assists for 22 points ... Freshmen have three goals and four assists for seven points on the year.